The More Manly Journal of James Potter
by opungo
Summary: I remembered I haven’t been writing in my journal for almost a month. But I’m making a comeback with it and it’s more manly than ever. Well, I'd like to believe that, anyway. Sequel to The Completely Manly Journal of James Potter. JPLE
1. April 21: Quidditch Woes, Lily Troubles

**Author's Note: SEQUEL! I'm not quite done with the second chapter, but I decided to heck with it all the same. This first chapter of the sequel is dedicated to madeofawesomeness who came up with the title in the first place. Thanks to all who reviewed the prequel and voted for the sequel. So, a couple things to announce.**

**1. This is a reminder to everybody that I am a beta reader and I do have time on my hands. That's code for: absolutely nothing is going on in my life and I need to kill some time, so please help me by giving me a story to beta.**

**2. New feature! With each new chapter of the sequel, I'll reccomend another Harry Potter FanFiction author for all of you to go read. It's only people who review the story, though. But _please_ do not include in your review to go read your stories and reccomend you with the next chapter. I will get around to reading your stuff, without you breathing down my neck, so have a little patience.**

* * *

**Monday, April 21  
Transfiguration**

Mum just wrote me the other day and asked if I was still writing in here. That's when I remembered I haven't been writing in my _manly journal_ for almost a month. But I'm making a comeback with it and it's manlier than ever. Well, I'd like to believe that, anyway. Perhaps I should brush up on a few points that have been happening this school year.

This Saturday, Gryffindor is competing for the Quidditch Cup against Ravenclaw.

My desire to win is only fueled by the fact that Samuel Craig, the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain, hates me. Only because his mate Davies hates me as well. He's gotten to be a possessive bugger lately. If I say one word to his girlfriend, Annie Simmons, he nearly pops an artery. Plus, I don't think he ever got over the fact that Lily only went out on that one date with him to make _me _jealous. Which brings me to point number three.

Lily is currently avoiding me.

I'm not sure what I did this time around, but I must have done something. The only problem is, I'm a bloke and it's not always obvious what we did to anger our girlfriends. The worst part is: they won't tell us for days! So we're left to ponder what we did wrong and when they _do _finally tell us, it's not what we were thinking at all.

Well, I'm fed up with it. If Lily's mad at me then she can drag herself over to me and _tell_ me why. I'm not going to trail after her and beg her to forgive me for whatever horrible thing I did.

* * *

**Later  
****Charms**

What did I do?!-JP

_James?-LE_

Yes. Who else in seventh year has the same initials?

_Oh._

Yes, oh. Now could you please tell me what I did wrong so I'm not following you around for the next few days and begging before you finally give in and tell me?

_I'm not mad! I feel a little put out, but not mad._

Oh. That's all?

_Yes. That's all._

Oh, that's a relief that it's only something unimportant and stupid.

_Unimportant and stupid?_

Er…

_For your information it is NOT unimportant and stupid!_

I know, sorry. Slip of the tongue. Well since it's not either of those, could you tell me why you're mad?

_No!_

So you admit you're mad?

_Well now I'm downright irritated!_

Would you please just tell me so I can apologise for whatever I did properly?

_No. I feel rather stupid for being mad about it anyway. I'll get over it. Just give me a little time, OK?_

Fine, I understand. Are you coming down to the pitch to watch our practice tonight?

…_I don't know, James. I do have a bit of work to get done._

Bring it with you. Please?

_You and the team would be too big of a distraction for me and I would be too big of a distraction for you._

You aren't normally. You actually help me practice better most of the time when I see you there.

_I have work._

…I guess it won't kill me if you stay in from one of our practices. Do you want me to meet you afterwards?

_If I'm still in the Common Room, then feel free to join me._

That's all I'm asking for right now.

* * *

**Later  
****Defense Against the Dark Arts**

Last year at Hogwarts.

NEWTs are approaching.

Yeah, honestly, Professor, we've been told all of this before from all of our other instructors. We don't need to hear it _again. _

* * *

**Later  
****Potions**

Lily has to be more than a little put out. Usually, she has absolutely no problem with me holding her hand in this class, or playing with a strand of her hair, or running my hand along her thigh, or-

Sorry, got carried away there.

Well, she usually has no problem with any of that. Well today, when I slipped my hand under her robes to rub circles on her back she immediately reached back and pinched the skin on my hand hard. Needless to say, I extracted it at the drop of a hat. Then she proceeded to scoot her chair a few inches away from me.

And she's the one feeling put out? I don't even know what I did to make her feel put out and it's making _me _downright miserable. If she's upset with me, why doesn't she just bloody spit it out? I don't care if the reason sounds stupid, so long as she tells me so I can find _some _way of making it all better.

I may not be a Healer but I am her boyfriend. Can't she let me be that even when she's mad?

No, apparently not.

She started seeming a little distant Saturday. She was still around me a lot of the day, but it's like she wasn't there. Like she was expecting something. Though what she could've been expecting is beyond me. Then Sunday she avoided me all together, even at meals.

She joined me for breakfast this morning, though. She said nothing the whole time and she still hasn't spoken a word to me all day. The notes from Charms don't count since she was just writing, not speaking.

This is frustrating. Even more frustrating is knowing that I'll hardly see her all week except for our usual study sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Gryffindor has been practicing on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays since Hufflepuff and Slytherin were eliminated from the running for the Quidditch Cup.

That's why she's been coming out to watch our practices so she can actually see me, even if she can't talk to me. It's comforting to both of us.

This will be resolved, though. At least, I hope it will be.

* * *

**Later  
****Boy's Dormitory**

I let Quidditch out twenty minutes early today. Though some people couldn't understand why I was doing that so close to the Quidditch Cup, two people understood. Sirius and Dorcas, to be clear.

Dorcas has no idea why Lily was being distant either so she couldn't help me figure it out. Sirius knows I've been concerned all day so he just rolled his eyes at me when I ended practice. I made sure to take a quick shower in the locker room and put on some of the cologne Lily got me for Christmas (I overheard her telling her friends that she likes how I look and smell when I've just showered. Odd, I know, but I was desperate at this point).

After being delayed for just a short time by some rowdy second years from Hufflepuff (I took five points off each from them) I climbed through the portrait hole and spotted Lily lounging on the couch by the fire, her back turned towards me. I walked over and sat down next to her. She looked surprised. Clearly, she had been planning on escaping before I came and wasn't expecting me back so soon.

"I let practice out early," I told her before she could ask. "We were all getting exhausted." I leaned over to kiss her, but she turned her head so I got her cheek instead. She looked back down at her book while I played with a strand of her hair. I glanced down at the page and saw the name Mr. Darcyand I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

She was reading _Pride and Prejudice _again. I tried to read that book all the way through just for her, I really did. But it's a girl book through and through so I failed at my attempt. I watched her read through several chapters (they were all relatively short) before I spoke again.

"Could you please tell me what I did wrong?" I asked her in a low voice, placing my hand on her face and caressing her cheek with my thumb. She closed her book and turned her face away, screwing her eyes and mouth shut tight. I reached out again and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Lily. Please," I begged in a whisper. She gave a long shuddering sigh. I could tell she was trying to keep her emotions and voice in check.

"It's stupid," she muttered, nearly inaudible.

"I don't care," I told her. "Besides, nothing you could say would sound stupid to me." Lily thought about this for a while before turning back to face me, though she kept her eyes down.

"What was the date on Saturday?" she asked me quietly. This was not what I was expecting, but I answered her anyway.

"The nineteenth," I told her promptly. She nodded.

"Just think back to all the other months of the school year and see if the nineteenth stands out in any of the months," Lily told me. I did as she said and went into deep thought. March, nothing. February, nothing. January, nothing. December, nothing. November, nothing. October, no-

Oh, shit.

The nineteenth of October. That's when Lily and I began going out. Ever since then I had been giving her some kind of present or taking her out to Hogsmeade on a date every time we had been going out for another month. And I had missed the half-year mark.

"Oh, Lily," I began, fully realising what she was upset about. I stopped when she started crying.

"I-I told you it w-was st-stupid!" she told me between her gasps for breath. I'm glad to say that I have gotten _much _better at comforting upset girls since dating Lily so I didn't hesitate to put my arms around her and cradle her against my chest.

"It's fine," I tried to tell her, but she cut me off again.

"I s-sound like a stupid, spoiled girl," she told me. I chuckled at that.

"Well, sorry, that's my fault. I'm the one that spoils you constantly. You deserve to be spoiled, anyway. Though perhaps I've been overdoing the spoiling just a tad."

My fake musings worked. Lily laughed. We sat there for a while. I tried to promise her that I'd take her out _this_ weekend, but she told me that wouldn't be allowed because she knew that all of Gryffindor would be celebrating winning the Cup all weekend and the Captain of all people couldn't slip away from that.

"Well what if we don't win?" I challenged. Lily scoffed.

"Please! You'll win and you know it," she accused prodding a finger into my chest. We were now lying on our sides across the couch, entangled in each other's arms. It was late and nobody was in the common room so I was confident that nobody was about to intrude. I continued to stroke Lily's hair, smiling softly.

"So am I forgiven for my lapse in memory?" I asked her. Lily nodded.

"Of course. Am I forgiven for abusing the privilege of being spoiled?"

"Being spoiled is a right, not a privilege," I amended. Lily continued to look at me. "Fine," I sighed, giving in.

Smiling, she leaned forward to kiss me on the lips. Instead of being a simple peck, the kiss lingered and deepened. My tongue slipped into her mouth and I rolled us over so that Lily was on top of me. One hand around her waist and the other braided in her hair. Both of Lily's hands were working furiously through my hair. My hand around her waist slowly inched down to the hem of her shirt and then slipped under it. I paused there for a moment, waiting for her to reach back and slap my hand away. She had been doing that every time we've snogged for the past six months. But when she kept kissing me, I assumed that it was fine. My hand traveled upward, carefully tracing her spine with just the tips of her fingers. She broke away and giggled.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Nothing. That tickles is all," she said offhandedly and went right back to kissing me. I didn't argue with her. I placed my hand flat on her back and continued to travel upward, slowly.

A loud bang of a door slamming from one of the dormitories above made Lily and I rip open our eyes and jump apart, sitting on opposite ends of the couch. We both would've been embarrassed if we had been caught like that. Lily more than me, but still I just got her to start snogging me again so I kind of want to keep it that way. After a minute of pure silence, we both relaxed and started smoothing out our clothes and hair.

"So, er, I take it we're going to bed, then?" I questioned. Lily nodded, her cheeks bright pink from the thought of the embarrassment she would've endured if she had been caught. She bent down and picked up her book. I walked her over to the girl's dormitory staircase (a little difficult considering my glasses were at their foggiest. I had to remember to take them _off_ when we were snogging.)

"I'll see you in the morning," I promised, cleaning off my glasses. "Unless there's another thing you're mad at me for that I should be aware of."

"Well you have yet to give me a compliment," she mused jokingly.

"You're the most beautiful girl I've ever had the pleasure of knowing," I told her. She turned bright red again. "I promise to make it up to you." Lily sighed.

"You don't have to. It was a stupid thing for me to get upset over."

"I _want_ to make it up to you," I corrected. She rolled her eyes.

"Fine, you pushy Head Boy," she grumbled. I bent down and kissed her for a brief moment.

"Sweet dreams," I whispered. "Though, if any of those dreams are about Darcy and not me, you'll have some explaining to do," I warned. Lily laughed and ascended the stairs to the girl's staircase before I turned went to my own dormitory.

* * *

**Tuesday, April 22  
****Muggle Studies**

**Have I ever mentioned that you and Lily are entirely nauseating when you make up from a row?**

_Sirius, give him a break. He's miserable when they are fighting so what would you rather have: miserable James or happy James?_

**I'm not entirely sure I like either of them. One's useless, the other one makes you vomit.**

Oh, shut up.

So how much of that making up time was devoted to snogging?

_Why so red, Prongs?_

I'm not going to answer that question! What makes you think I'd tell you something like that? It'd upset Lily!

_So, a lot of it then?_

Shut. Up.

**Well obviously a lot of that time was devoted to it because he came up to the dormitory not long after I slammed that door.**

Wait, that was you? You were spying on me?

**No. I had just noticed that you hadn't come back up to the dormitory yet so either you had fallen asleep, you were busy talking, or you were snogging Lily.**

Why you little-

**Ha, I knew I was right!**

You know, call me crazy, but it might not be the greatest thing for a Captain and a Beater to get into a fight just days before the final for the Quidditch Cup.

Who cares?

_You two will when you're stuck in detention and all of Gryffindor hates you for landing yourselves in detention the day of the Quidditch Cup._

* * *

**Later  
****Transfiguration**

Are you looking for something to put you in high spirits and make you forget all your worries and woes? Well then, you should avoid turning the Wizarding Wireless on.

I went to the common room with Sirius, Remus, and Peter for our free period after Muggle Studies and somebody had left a Wireless on. I grinned for a moment at it when I saw it and sat down at a table with Sirius to plan out more strategies for our game this Saturday.

"You mind background music while we work?" I asked Sirius. He shrugged and Moony, before I had a chance to get up, turned up the volume from the low hum they had left it on. I instantly regretted it. They hadn't left music on.

"…and some more casualties today in a small town west of London occurred at the hands of the followers of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. A Muggle family, the last known relatives of Muggle-born Ministry of Magic worker Patrick O'Donnell and O'Donnell himself were found dead in their homes by Muggle authority figures. The Muggle family, consisting of a man, his wife, and two daughters aged four and nine, were killed instantly. There were signs of a struggle at O'Donnell's residence, suggesting he put up a brave fight before he was killed-"

Remus turned the Wireless off and sat back down at the table where Sirius, Peter, and I remained silent, still reflecting on the words of the latest casualty in this long war. Eight years and counting.

"Every other damn day," I muttered, gesturing towards the Wireless. Sirius shook his head.

"Just ignore it, mate," he told me, brushing it off as if more people dying were nothing.

"Ignore it?!" I sputtered, indignant. "People are dying and you tell me to ignore it?!"

"James, we're in school," Remus reminded me. "We still have almost two months before we graduate. For now, we have to ignore it because there's nothing we can do about it."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "So you're telling me that you're perfectly alright with the fact that innocent people are dying right and left?" Remus glared right back.

"Of course not," he said in a low voice. "No sane person in this entire castle is perfectly fine with that."

"My Mum is good friends with that O'Donnell bloke," Peter interjected, also looking upset with me. "It makes me plenty pissed too, but I know I can't do a thing. Trust me I want to do something about it but unlike you, I recognise that I _can't_."

"Wake up and smell the coffee, James," Sirius muttered. "As long as we go to school here, there's nothing we can do. _Nothing._"

"I know that, but I still-oh, _what_ are you staring at?" I broke off, looking behind Sirius' shoulder. Those nosy paintings again. They made a hasty retreat when they had been caught, however. "I know that," I began again, "but that doesn't stop me from wanting to do something about it."

"Well we'll start small. For instance," he pushed a chart of the Quidditch pitch to me, "let's start with the Cup on Saturday."

I stared at the chart for a long while, trying to recollect my thoughts from earlier before I had heard the Wireless. "Ravenclaw is rather tricky this year. Their Chasers like to do this looping thing. It's very disorienting. We need to find a way around that; a defense mechanism or something."

"Bludgers?" Remus suggested, glancing over at Sirius.

"I'd hit somebody from Gryffindor by accident if I tried that," he pointed out.

So our argument over the best strategies began.

* * *

**Later  
****Boy's Dormitory**

The tutoring sessions between Lily and myself have ceased to be tutoring sessions and are now review sessions for our upcoming N.E.W.T.s. The sessions have also moved them to the common room. We're helping each other fine tune things over the past couple of years. I even had Mum send me some of my old notes and I spent a while last night (after Lily and I went to bed last night, obviously) recopying them for her. My handwriting was rather sloppy on most of it and took me some time to decipher and _Lily_ and _L.E. _was scrawled across many of the pages.

She was rather impressed by all the work I had done, but became concerned the moment she learned I lost sleep over it.

"It was nothing, Lils," I promised her. "No need to be so concerned. The sleep deprivation was self-inflicted."

She remained unmoved. "You still shouldn't have done all that for me," she sighed, but looking delighted at all the notes. I shrugged.

"It was nothing." I tried to hide my yawn, but she noticed anyway. "I'm fine," I insisted. "Study those. They'll help. Let me know if you need any more help going over the theories some of them are confusing."

"Thank you for doing all of this for me," Lily said sincerely. Then she briefly kissed me. That's the one great thing about having Lily as a girlfriend. Whenever she's happy or I make her happy, she'll just lean over and kiss me for no particular reason other than to thank me.

"Happy to help," I told her, grinning. Then I started flipping through the parchment she had made for me for Charms. "Are you sure that I need to know _all _of this?" I asked skeptically.

Lily shrugged. "It doesn't hurt to cover all the material. You may not look over something and then it turns out to be worth a large amount of your grade when the N.E.W.T.s come around."

I nodded. She had a point, as usual.

"So, are you coming to the game on Saturday?" I asked, putting the notes down next to me and wrapping my arm around Lily. She reached across me to put her notes on top of mine and wrapped both her arms around me, tucking her head under mine.

"When have I not come to a game of yours this year?" she challenged. "Of course I'll be there and I'll be watching the whole time. Cross my heart."

"Good," I replied, smiling into her hair. "So how are things with the Evans family?"

"Alright, I suppose. Mum and Dad are great as ever. Mum keeps on getting a cold or the flu a lot lately. My brother-in-law finally got off his lazy arse and got himself a job. He and my sister will be getting a house soon."

"What's he do?"

"Something where he sits on his arse all day and yells at people on the telephone. It's kind of like what he does with the television but he gets paid for it."

"Oh, wow. That sounds like everybody's dream job," I said sarcastically. Lily looked up at me.

"Explain the function of the telephone," she told me. I groaned.

"Why do you have to ruin the time we're not studying with mentioning schoolwork?"

"Well, you ruined it first by making me bring up my sister."

Touché.

* * *

**Wednesday, April 23  
****Muggle Studies**

Tensions between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw are increasing as we get closer to the Cup. Not just between the teams, but the students as well. I had to resist the urge to not break up a fight between a Ravenclaw and a Gryffindor (the Gryffindor was _winning_) but I broke it up and sent them to Flitwick and McGonagall in addition to take off ten points each. I've been concerned for my teammates as well and advised them to walk in groups. It's like the accusations that somebody on the Gryffindor Quidditch team slipped those Ice Crabs down Regulus' trousers all over again.

To be fair, they weren't _on _the team when they did that.

Lily, however, who used to be the least enthusiastic when it came to upcoming Quidditch games, is showing her support for Gryffindor. She's been wearing gold ribbons in her hair every day and some black knee socks with the Gryffindor coat of arms sewn on there. She's also enchanted each feather on her quills to turn red and gold. She's probably only doing it mostly for my benefit, but she does seem to enjoy it. She hardly even cares about my Quidditch ramblings at breakfast with Sirius and Dorcas.

"We'll hardly even have to play," I told Dorcas and Sirius. "We're so ahead of them points wise that the game hardly matters. Just go in there, catch the snitch, and then head back to the common room to celebrate."

"Well we could prolong the game a little bit," Sirius suggested. Dorcas nodded.

"It couldn't hurt," she interjected.

"I see your point." I rubbed my chin for a moment, thinking. "Well, we wouldn't want to disappoint with a lousy performance. We should try a little and give Gryffindor _something_ to cheer about."

Lily playfully nudged me. "Don't be a show-off," she implored.

"I'm not being a show-off. I just want to give the good people of Gryffindor a real reason to celebrate. An easy victory, that's just boring. If we add a little drama, we'll have the best damn celebration party in this whole castle."

"We shouldn't even be _having _a celebration party, anyway," Lily pointed out. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, please, you didn't stop them as a Prefect, you're not about to stop them now. Especially when you enjoy them so much."

Lily rolled her eyes and rested her head on my shoulder. I took that to mean that I was right on the mark with my guess.

* * *

**Another Author's Note!: So here's a look at what's to come with the sequel:**

**1. James and Lily are getting a little more heated, aren't they? Don't worry, this will stay a T rating. If you guys ever think it should be bumped up, however, I will be happy to oblige if it's a good number of you who believe that.**

**2. No Quidditch scene. Unless you are highly objected to that. (PLEASE BE ALRIGHT WITH NO QUIDDITCH SCENE!)**

**3. Who caught the little foreshadowing in the note passing between James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter in the last note they passed in Muggle Studies in chapter nineteen of the sequel? I know for sure one of you did. Take a guess at this one.**

**4. Well, I killed off one of Harry's grandparents in the prequel...**

**And other things that I will not reveal to you at this time, but I will make you wait for. Enjoy and review!**


	2. April 23: In Your Head

**Author's Note: Start cheering, it's the second chapter! My goodness, I got a lot of love for the first chapter. 31 reviews, 13 favorite adds, and 34 alert adds. This sequel was obviously wanted. Sorry, no Quidditch scene, like I said. Now for the reviewer/author reccomendation (I need a name for this that doesn't sound so dumb).**

**This chapter's reviewer/author reccomendation: MissGoalie75. Only two of their works are in the Harry Potter genre, but they're both excellent oneshots (invloving the Marauders, nonetheless). So go read her works as well.**

**Confusing point: Several people who reviewed the prequel were confused or pointed out the mistake that James never mentioned Remus being a werewolf, or the full moon, or the fact that he, Sirius, and Peter were illegal Animagi. Would _you_ go around writing in a journal your friend was a werewolf and you were an _illegal_ Animagus, along with two of your other friends? I hinted at their full moon antics if you read between the lines. I thought I was being obvious...apparently not. **

**Chapter title: Refers to the Coldplay song 42.**

**EDIT: I put in the wrong date at the end of the chapter. Sorry for the false alarm.**

**On with the chapter!**

* * *

**Later  
****Transfiguration**

Another example of rivalry between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw is in the classroom. Constant spells are thrown whilst the professors have their backs turned. McGonagall has sent several people to the hospital wing already for some of the nastier spells, taken away points, and threatened two weeks of detention to the next person to cast a jinx, charm, or hex in her classroom would have two weeks of detention.

"This rivalry just because of a silly match is completely ridiculous!" she snapped. Oh, really, Professor? Then why did you write this on my homework you assigned two weeks ago?: _Potter, excellent work. Now, about Quidditch: I really enjoy having that nice, large Quidditch Cup in my office. I have been sacrificing time I could be using to help the seventh year and fifth year class review for N.E.W.T.s and O.W.L.s, by giving less assignments. Remember that at practice!_

I'm sure she just believes that putting pressure on me is another way of saying "I love you."

* * *

**Later  
****Boy's Dormitory**

Lily came out to watch us practice like she normally does. I really only saw her as a blur of red and black as I passed her continuously in the air. She just sat there with her books and parchment and did her homework. My Lily; always studying.

She came and waited inside the changing rooms as usual, except in a separate room where the girls always change. The boys have offered to go into that room instead, but the girls decline. I made all the guys change quickly and then run out of there. The girls changed pretty fast as well and soon Lily and I were the only ones left.

"Okay," I called as I pulled my shirt on. "I'm decent." Lily slowly peeked her head out of the room. She grinned and then fully emerged, closing the door behind her.

"Well besides the fact that you have no shoes on, you're missing a sock, and you forgot to put your belt on so your pants are slowly sliding down to your knees…yes, you are decent." I looked down in alarm to see that Lily was right. Especially about my pants. The waistband of my boxer shorts was exposed and my pants were slowly and continuously sliding down farther, displaying _more_ of my undergarments for the entire world to see. I hitched them back up, turning red.

"At least Sirius wasn't here to see that," I muttered, grabbing by belt and securing it through the loops. I found my other sock and sat down to put that on. Lily came over and sat next to me while I tied my shoes.

"Well, we'll keep it between us then," she told me, giving me a light peck on the cheek.

I grinned at her, standing up and tucked her books under one arm. With the other arm, I tugged her up off the bench and led her out of the changing rooms. Once outside I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her close to me.

"So, what are you doing next Saturday?" I asked her once we reached the Entrance Hall. She thought about it for a moment, then grinned up at me.

"Something with you?" she asked.

"Correct! I have to make up for missing last Saturday."

Lily's grin dropped. "No, you don't have to. I told you that I already felt stupid for even being mad about that."

"Well I feel stupid for neglecting the fact that you've been with me for one hundred and eighty six days."

She looked up at me. "Can't you just say six months like a normal person?" I shook my head.

"I did that math all in my head and I even added the days we've been together since Saturday. Speaking of Saturdays…"

Lily sighed in defeat. "Fine. I'll go on a date with you."

"I never get tired of hearing you say that," I admitted, smiling into her hair.

* * *

**Thursday, April 24  
****Muggle Studies**

Two Gryffindors and two Ravenclaws got into a brawl before breakfast. Honestly, people, could you wait until _after_ I have coffee in my system before I deal with stuff like this? It's kind of hard to sound like a stern Head Boy when you begin yawning halfway through taking off points.

* * *

**Later  
****Charms**

_So, do you think you're ready for the game Saturday?-LE_

Of course. As ready as we'll ever be.-JP

_I'll be at your practice tomorrow and I'll cut our studying short tonight so you can get in as much sleep as you can before Saturday._

**Oh, please, Lily. That will just make him more restless.-SB**

Padfoot! This note did not include you.

**Every time he expects to spend a certain amount of time with you, and then that time is cut short, he just mopes about it in our dormitory.**

_He does?_

No! I do not mope. Make a small complaint or two, yes. Mope, no.

**For hours and hours it's just Prongs with this dead look on his face.**

_Really?_

He's exaggerating.

**Then, if you're unlucky enough to have him fall asleep before you, you get to listen in on him moaning in his sleep. You'd think he'd have some variety, but all he says is your name, really.**

I do not! Don't listen to him!

_It's fine, James. I think it's nice._

Really?

**Hey, Tomato-faced Prongs is back!**

Padfoot…

_You shouldn't be sad when I have to go. You always see me later._

I don't get sad.

**Liar.**

Shut up.

**No, Evans. He doesn't really get sad. He did this before you were even going out.**

Talk anymore and I'll kill you. You hear me? I will murder you in cold blood.

**Someone's touchy.**

_No fighting! You're both needed for the match Saturday._

**I see your point. Your girlfriend's smart, Prongs.**

Why do you think I like her so much?

* * *

**Friday, April 25  
****Muggle Studies**

I swear, this whole thing between Davies, me, Lily, and Annie is old and Annie and I are apparently the ones who think so. I was walking Lily to her first class and Davies and Annie were walking the opposite direction. Annie smile and wave to me and I waved back. Well that earned a death glare from Davies and an elbow in the ribs from a rather disgruntled Lily.

"You know, Lily," I choked, "I do prefer to have my ribs intact. It helps with things. Like breathing properly, walking, having organs without puncture wounds. Just to name a few."

"I don't like her," Lily muttered, looking very cross. No need to ask who "her" was.

I sighed. "I know that but she is my friend. Before you say anything, let me explain," I interjected when Lily's mouth opened to protest. "You may not like her and she may not like you, but she still gave me advice about how to work with you and maybe win you over. Which I did."

"You went out on a date with her," she mumbled so quietly I almost didn't hear her. This has always been a sore spot with Lily and I always have to soothe her.

"And it was the worst date of my life," I immediately told her.

"Why? You found out she has scales? I knew she couldn't keep them covered with all that junk on her face."

"No, because the whole time I was miserable and thinking about how much more fun I would be having if I had gone to Hogsmeade with you instead of her," I said, ignoring the jibe about the scales.

This seemed to console her so I bent down to kiss her and to give her some more reassurance. Then, rather reluctantly, she let go of me, but I could see she was feeling better already.

* * *

**Later  
****Transfiguration**

McGonagall has gone crazy with the thought of winning. She's just announced that she's letting us out early today. And when I say crazy, I do mean _crazy_. She just has the manic glint in her eyes every time she hears the word _Quidditch_. Quaffle, Bludger, Snitch, broom, Gryffindor, and Ravenclaw also seem to spark that crazy look.

Perhaps I should owl St. Mungo's…

* * *

**Saturday, April** **26  
****Boy's Dormitory**

Another bloody brilliant day for Quidditch ahead. The skies are clear, but it is still freezing out. One day, I'm going to move far away to a place where it's nice and warm all year round.

Remus is busy flitting through the names again so he's sure he remembers them. Why he keeps on agreeing to be commentator if he's going to put himself through this torture is beyond me. Sirius is polishing his broom. I think it's just from nerves because it's already well past shining. Peter has misplaced his scarf yet again. He hasn't cleaned out his trunks since second year. I really have no room to talk, considering I haven't cleaned mine out since fourth, but that's two years less than his trunk.

It's going to be one hell of a game. Though, if we're lucky it will be short and uneventful. I just want to celebrate it. So the sooner I get through with this game, the sooner I get to the butterbeer.

* * *

**Sunday, April 27  
****Boy's Dormitory**

Yes, I am aware that it's been a full day since I've written in this. It's a long story that starts with breakfast.

I reached the Great Hall that day with Lily by my side. Like any day of Quidditch, everybody was on edge; you could just feel the tension in the air. No sooner had Lily and I sat down then did the rest of the Gryffindor team descend upon us. We discussed everything from team strategies to the weather. I gave Lily a quick kiss on the cheek every once in a while to let her know that even though I was engrossed in the conversation, I hadn't completely forgotten she was there.

I had just finished eating my breakfast when the mail arrived. I spotted Bertie among the bunch before he smoothly landed in front of me, holding out his leg. I quickly removed the letter before giving him a bit of toast. It was just Mum wishing me good luck. A tawny owl landed next to Lily. She took her time undoing the letter.

"I'll see you after the game," I promised her. I kissed her on the mouth, long enough for Sirius to clear his throat at us.

"Good luck!" she called as I walked out. The game was just what I thought it would be. It was over before anybody really had a chance to get settled in their seats. We flew, I scored a goal, the Snitch was caught, and Gryffindor started cheering like mad. Everybody started flooding on to the field before I was on the ground and when I did touch down; Sirius, Remus, and Peter were there to clap me on the back.

"Easiest game we've ever played!" Sirius yelled over the roar of the crowd. I nodded in agreement and let out a loud whoop.

"Where's Lily?" I yelled to Remus and Peter. I had to repeat myself before they understood what I meant.

"She went back up to the common room!" Peter replied. "She wanted to beat the crowds! She said to tell you that you played well and congratulations!"

I nodded and thought nothing more of it; I just went back to whooping and hollering with everybody else out there on the field. It was a while before anybody started making any real progress back towards the school, but our pace was sluggish as we tried to push through the crowd.

The common room was already congested with students and food, despite the size of the crowd out on the Quidditch pitch. I found the butterbeer and cracked it open, scanning the room for Lily. I couldn't find her. Usually, she stands out with her red hair, but today was not the case. I sat down on a couch near the fire to wait I'd be able to see her better from there, anyway. Sirius, Remus, and Peter joined me.

"Cheers to one of the shortest Quidditch game of our lives," Sirius said, raising his butterbeer bottle slightly.

"Here, here," I exclaimed, raising my bottle to his. They clinked together and I took a long gulp. "Now that Quidditch is over we can just sit back and relax and-oh, never mind that. I forgot entirely about N.E.W.T.s at the end of the year. You can stay stressed and panicked as before. Forget I said anything."

"We nearly always do, mate," Peter informed me cheekily. Someone turned up the music to a loud volume to the point where I had to shout to the rest of the Marauders to be heard. Sirius, at one point, went around the room talking to people, and just as they were about to admit something embarrassing, he flicked his wand behind his back and the music turned off, plunging the room into silence. After the fifth time, I grabbed him by the back of his robes before he made somebody else shout what they had done one night whilst drunk or exactly how many girls they were cheating on.

"OK, I am officially intervening as Head Boy," I growled while the most recent of Sirius' victims was cowering on the ground while hexes were being hurled at him by his now ex-girlfriend. "You need to stop doing embarrassing people and ruining relationships; even if the latter did have good intentions behind it."

Sirius shrugged and went to get some more food. I always kept an eye open for Lily, but I never saw her. Not even after I briefly escaped to the dormitory to change out of my Quidditch robes. Well, that visit wasn't so brief since I had the sudden impulse to play a song.

The party was still going strong, long after the sun had set. I was leaning against a wall, half-listening to a story Michael Quincy was telling. Sirius came up beside me and offered me another butterbeer. I shook my head. When he insisted, I finally spoke.

"Padfoot," I said. "I know you're my best mate and all, but if I drink another butterbeer, I _will _toss my lunch and I'll aim for you when I do." Sirius shrugged and opened the butterbeer himself.

"Any luck in finding Lily?" he asked. A soft song had come on, so there was no need to shout. I shook my head. "Well I have," Sirius boasted. When my head snapped up, he pointed behind me. Lily was sitting at a table all by herself, her expression unreadable as she poked absentmindedly at a plate of food. I told Sirius thanks before making my way over to Lily. She looked up as I approached and gave me a smile that looked more like a grimace.

"I haven't seen you since breakfast," I noted, sitting down across from her. She didn't respond. Instead, she put some food in her mouth and chewed slowly before swallowing. Then she took a long sip of butterbeer and finally looked at me.

"You played well," she told me. "Congratulations. You must be proud. I'm sorry that I left the pitch so fast. I just wanted to beat the crowds."

I felt my forehead wrinkle in confusion. "But I haven't seen you until now."

Lily nodded. "I was up in the dormitory for a while."

She ate for a while longer, not wanting to elaborate too much. I could tell that she was getting ready to burst at the seams. Something was off; I just didn't know what.

"Are you feeling alright?" I asked uncertainly.

"I'm fine," Lily replied, voice cracking. The music turned up again to a loud rock number that seemed to make the room shake. I got up from the chair and knelt beside Lily.

"What's wrong?" I shouted. Lily didn't answer for a moment. She continued to stare at the wall. Finally she turned and wrapped her arms around my neck, burying her face in my shoulder.

I felt her head turn and she spoke into my ear. "My Mum is sick."

Immediately, just from Lily's tone of voice, the way she had seemed fine before she received that letter at breakfast, how this was the first time I had seen her since then, I knew what Lily meant when she said her Mum was sick. I had been the same way when Mum sent me a letter toward the end of last year informing me of Dad being ill. I skipped classes for two days straight, not really caring that I was missing vital review days that could be used for my final exams. I ignored the long lectures from the Professors on being out of class those days, my mind off somewhere else. Lily at the time had only seen rather disgruntled that I had chosen to show up in class again. I didn't speak to her for the rest of the year, which seemed to lift her mood some.

Now I was faced with a clearly upset Lily in my arms. My arms tightened their grip around her waist and I carefully looked around the room. Everybody was preoccupied so nobody would notice us slipping away from the festivities. I stood up, my arms still wrapped around Lily and headed over to the boy's dormitory staircase. She got the idea and dropped her arms, only holding my hand and she led the way up to my dormitory. I closed the door behind me and looked at Lily, who was standing in the middle of the room, her back turned to me.

"Lily," I began. I stopped when she came back to me and buried her face in my shoulder again. She was crying.

"I feel so pathetic!" she mumbled into my shirt. "I've been crying nearly all day and I thought I had it all out of my system! Why don't I have it all out of my system?!"

"It probably hasn't sunk in all the way," I suggested, leading her over to my four-poster.

We were like that for a while; Lily cried most of the time and talked to me the rest of it. "The letter I got this morning was from Dad," she explained. "It just said that she was sick, it wasn't a cold, it wasn't the flu, she's just sick. She only just turned fifty, how can she be sick? How can she just go now?"

"She's not going _now_," I insisted, trying to soothe her.

"I've been running into the bathroom every time one of my friends came up to the dormitory," she told me. "Either that, or I've been pretending to sleep."

"You didn't tell them?"

"N-no." And a new wave of tears came. It took a while, but her tears finally became small sniffling noises. I looked down at her red face and red eyes. She looked tired.

"Do you want to go back to your dormitory so you can sleep now?" I asked. Lily shook her head.

"No," she replied, her voice cracking. I left her side briefly to fish through Sirius' trunk, where he always had a few spare butterbeer bottles. I cracked it open and handed it to Lily before taking my place by her side again. She finished the bottle in no time.

"Why don't you want to go back to your dormitory?" I asked, putting her bottle on my bedside table.

Lily sighed. "I look like a mess. They'll ask questions and that'll just start the crying again and I don't want to go back unless I'm sure I'll be able to control it. Right now…I'm just sure I _can't._ I want to sleep, but I don't want to put it off; I want to sleep _now_. Not after being prodded for hours by my friends." She looked up at me, blinking. "Do you know of any places in the castle I could stay overnight?"

I thought about it for a moment. "Yes, but it's a bit too risky to sneak you out at this hour; even _with_ the Cloak." I told her about the Cloak long ago. Lily sighed, closing her eyes.

"Could I stay here?" she muttered quietly. I deliberated this for a moment. It would be just a little hard to explain to my friends why Lily was there, but I didn't really see a problem with that arrangement.

I hopped down to the floor and began to rummage through my trunk. I eventually found an old sweater and a pair of shorts from fifth or sixth year. Maybe it was a good thing it had been so long since I had really gone through this trunk. I tossed the makeshift night clothes to Lily and closed the curtains around my four-poster so she could change in peace. I pulled on my own pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt as quick as I could. I rummaged through my trunk again to find a blanket. I would sleep on the floor.

"Are you decent?" I asked, tossing my clothes to a corner of the dormitory where a house elf would eventually clear it away.

"Yes. Are you?"

"Yes." I heard the curtains open. I turned and saw Lily on her knees. Even in clothes from previous years, my clothes nearly dwarfed her. She didn't seem to mind, though. She just continued to neatly fold her clothes. Once she was done I took them and put them in my trunk for her. When I tried to haul a pillow off the bed, however, she began to question my actions.

"What are you doing?" she asked, as I dropped two pillows to the ground.

I raised an eyebrow. Wasn't it obvious what I was doing? "I'm getting ready for bed."

"You can't sleep on the floor," Lily said, crossing her arms. "I'll sleep on the floor, I'm the guest-"

"Which means your comfort comes before mine," I interrupted, dropping the blanket on top of the pillows.

"No-just-come on. Don't sleep on the floor. Sleep up here."

"I'm not kicking you to the floor!" I told her, getting frustrated.

"Well I won't go to the floor," she countered. Then, for some inexplicable reason, her face turned bright red. I was confused. She got off the four-poster and put the blanket back in my trunk. Then she put the two pillows back in their place on the bed before climbing back into it. "Well?" she questioned. She tried to sound firm, but her voice shook a little. "Are you coming to bed or not?"

I felt my own face grow hot. Oh. Lily had been suggesting that we sleep in the same bed. I understood now. I took off my glasses and set them beside the butterbeer bottle before sitting down next to Lily on the bed.

"You sure you don't mind? Even with my sleep talking?" I asked. She rested her head on my shoulder and nodded. Then she froze. I froze too. We both heard the footsteps and voices approaching the dormitory. In a few quick movements I pointed my wand to the lamp and plunged the room into darkness. Then I shut the curtains and peeled the covers back, settling into the sheets with Lily, just as the dormitory door burst open and the lights turned on.

"Shut up, you git," Remus whispered. "Prongs is asleep."

"So?" Sirius challenged. He didn't bother to lower his volume. "That boy sleeps like a rock, anyway."

"Just get that record and leave him alone. And don't blame me when McGonagall comes into the common room and gets on to us for being too loud. It's already ten o'clock."

"Ten o'clock? And Prongs is already asleep. He's getting pathetic. And he's a liar! He told me that if he had another butterbeer, he'd vomit, but there's an empty bottle sitting right there." The light in the room was extinguished and the door closed, making the room silent and dark.

"Were you as big a mess as I am? When you found out about your Dad?" Lily whispered. I wound my arms tighter around her as my eyes tried to search for her face in the darkness.

"A little bit, yeah," I admitted. "I guess there were some days where I was better than others. Then there were days that I thought would never end because they seemed to just drag on. I don't really have days like that anymore."

Lily was silent for a long time and I thought she had fallen asleep before she spoke again. "Does it…get easier? Do you still think about him?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I still think about my Dad; every day. But every day it gets easier and every day I think about him less and less. I still want to remember him and I suppose I always will think about him a little bit, but not sad memories. I think about better times with him and that's how I coped with his passing: I know he lived a good life. He's just gone on to yet another great adventure. So it's not that I think of _him_ less and less; just the pain of his passing is all."

Lily's lips pressed against mine briefly before she settled back into the pillows. "Thank you," she murmured.

"You're welcome," I whispered back. I stayed up for a long while, watching Lily's sleeping form in the moonlight, fighting sleep myself. I didn't want her to start crying again. I wanted to make sure she was fine. I did drift off to sleep eventually. I vaguely registered Remus, Peter, and Sirius moving about the dormitory, getting ready for bed. I strained to listen to their conversation.

"McGonagall usually lets us stay up even later than this," Sirius was grumbling. "Especially after we've won the Cup."

"It's half past eleven," Remus whispered back. "Normal people are usually in bed at this hour." Peter snorted from his four-poster. "What?" Remus asked.

"Were you seriously trying to tell Padfoot to be normal?" he choked out between laughs. Sirius let out a loud laugh that was much more like a bark and Remus immediately shushed him. I rolled my eyes and went back to sleep.

When I woke up this morning, the first thing I notice was that my arms felt were empty. Cracking my eyes open, I noticed that I was the only occupant in the bed. I fought back the disappointment. Lily must've already left. I tugged open the curtains briefly set my glasses on my face so I could scan the dormitory. All the beds were empty. I groaned and stretched and took off my glasses again.

Just as I was wondering where they had all gone, I heard the shower turn off. I guessed that someone, most likely Sirius, was still there. I rummaged through the trunk for a fresh pair of clothes, sighing. Sirius had probably used up most of the hot water, which meant I had to take a very quick shower if I wanted a hot one. I carefully made my way over to the bathroom door and knocked. No answer.

"Sirius? Mate, you in there?" I called, knocking again. "Come on. Other people would enjoy a hot shower, too." Instead of a voiced response, the door opened. It hadn't been Sirius at all. Lily was standing in the doorway with wet hair and fresh clothes. A bottle was in her other hand.

"No, not Sirius. Nice guess, though, love," she joked, smiling at me. She toweled her hair and the smell of her shampoo hit me like a hammer. So that was what was in the bottle.

"Where'd you get the clothes?" I asked as she moved past me and back over to my four-poster. I had to squint to make her out.

"My dormitory," she replied.

"Did you see your friends? What did you tell them?"

"I didn't tell them anything because I didn't see them. Well, technically they didn't see me. I could see them just fine."

There was something in her tone, something she was hiding from me. I stared at her for a moment before it clicked. "You borrowed the Cloak to sneak into your own dormitory?" I asked incredulously. Lily sighed.

"I'm sorry, I won't do it again," she apologised.

I shook my head. "Oh, no, it's fine. I'm not mad; just surprised. I'll be right back."

Lily nodded and she proceeded to make my bed.

"When are you going to go back to your dormitory without my Cloak?" I called from the bathroom as I shrugged out of my shirt.

I heard Lily huff. "When I'm ready to. What, do you _want_ me to leave?"

"That couldn't be farther from the truth!" I called back as I pulled off my pajama pants. I heard Lily laugh.

A short while later, I bounced out of the bathroom; fully clothed. I stopped suddenly when I came into the dormitory. I had been used to having things in close proximity and not having everything blurred. Now everything was just that: one big blur. I was lucky that Lily was there and she knew me so well. I saw her form moving on the four-poster and she came right up to me and gently pushed my glasses on my face, her hands lingering behind my ears briefly. Her hair was still damp whereas mine was sopping wet. I didn't concentrate on her hair too long. I went straight to her face.

She seemed to be trying hard not to fall apart like she had yesterday. I ran a hand through her hair a few times before something on my bed caught my attention.

"Practicing again?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. I have been teaching Lily how to play guitar for a while now. She's only mastered two chords and she's learning to transition to the third chord. Instead of answering me, Lily held up her left hand to display the bright red finger tips.

"My fingers feel gross," she complained.

I rolled my eyes. "I told you that was one of the side effects to guitar. Do you want me to play something for you instead?"

That's what I ended up doing for a while. Now, while I'm writing in this, Lily is staring out the window with my Charms book in hand. She's shown no sign of moving and it's getting late into the afternoon. Yes, I am glad that she came to me and she's improved some, but she can't just hide out here until she's completely over her Mum. Who knows how long it could take?

* * *

**Later  
****Boy's Dormitory**

I'm not too proud of it…but I kicked Lily out of the dormitory. Although, I like to think of it as encouraging her to go seek the comfort of her friends.

After finishing the last passage, I put this away and joined Lily by the window. I stood there in silence for a while, doing nothing but stroking her hair. I reminded myself that I had to do this sooner or later and took a deep breath to begin.

"Lily," I started.

She knew automatically where this was headed. "No!" she protested before I got another word out. "Please don't make me go back to my dormitory! I'm not ready." She threw her arms around me and buried her face in my shoulder. I sighed.

"I know you aren't, but it could be a while until you are ready. I wasn't even fully ready to go back to classes when I found out about my Dad but we only had three weeks of the school year left so I kind of had to go. You should go back to your dormitory, without the Cloak, and give your friends a chance at cheering you up."

Lily still didn't move but I could tell I had won this argument. I rubbed her back soothingly.

"You don't have to go to classes tomorrow, if you don't want to; I'll lie for you. Then I'll be back up here during my free periods and you can come see me during them. And if you feel like you can't sleep, you can always come back up here with me. However, you should at least _try_ to sleep by yourself for one night before you ultimately decide that you can't."

I dropped my arms and expected her to do the same, but she didn't. She had locked her fingers and had no intention of letting go.

"Lily, you'll be fine. Your friends will be better at this cheering up stuff than I am. Trust me." No response. "Fine, then," I huffed a little impatiently. In one fluid movement, I scooped Lily up in my arms and started heading for the dormitory door, shifting her weight slightly so I could open the door.

"What are you doing? Put me down! Put me down! Put me down!" she demanded into my shirt.

"If I put you down will you run back up to my dormitory?"

She paused before answering. "No."

"You're a rotten liar, Lils," I snorted.

"James Potter, I swear, if you drop me on these bloody stairs I will kill you," Lily threatened.

"There's the old Lily!" I exclaimed triumphantly.

Lily finally looked up and met my gaze. "Please," she whimpered. "I don't want to deal with their questions right now."

"Do what I do when I don't want to hear Sirius droning on about Godric knows what: tell them to shut up. The Silencing Charm also does wonders in those types of situations."

"James…"

"Oh, what do you know? We made it down the stairs," I announced setting her on the ground. I kept a firm grip on her arm while Dorcas and Marlene jumped up from a table by the fire and rushed over.

Lily saw them and immediately turned, wrapping her arms around my neck again. The waterworks had started up again. "Please," she muttered. "Please just let me stay in your dormitory with you."

I almost caved. Almost. "I can't do that. I can try to help you, but I can't be your excuse to hide from the world until you learn how to cope with this. Hi," I added over her head when Dorcas and Marlene approached. "Give her food, water, don't force her to talk unless she really wants to, and if she gets hungry when you can't access food easily from the Great Hall, come see me, Sirius, Remus, or Pete, and we can get to the kitchens." They nodded and waited. I kissed the top of her head.

"Let me know if you need me," I whispered. Lily nodded and dropped her arms. Her face was contorted and twisted and I knew what was coming but she escaped up the stairs before the real sobbing began. Dorcas and Marlene trailed closely behind her.

So now, I wait.

* * *

**Another Author's Note: Yes, I am well aware that the whole James-and-Lily-sleeping-together-but-not-technically-_sleeping-together_ plot device has been done a million times before (I should probably add that to my list on my bio page) and you probably just rolled your eyes and went "AGAIN?!" when you saw it. Sorry, but I honestly couldn't resist. Which is why I made James strip twice. Plus, he was butt naked at one point, though I did glaze over that for the sake of your poor, slightly innocent minds.**


	3. April 27: Baby It's You

**Author's Note: Well this is long overdue, but in my defense: exams came, then the Christmas holidays, then school again (where the teachers went nuts), and then my birthday! So, a couple of notes.**

**1) My Reader/Reviewer Reccomendation is My Clone. Go read their stuff. It's good.**

**2) The song this chapter is named after is by the Beatles, since I couldn't come up with a better title at the time and this one stuck.**

**3) A whopping TEN people (yeah, I'm being slightly sarcastic here) went to my poll and voted when they wanted to know then I would reveal the next story for this Manly Journal series. Well, before I decided I'd definitely do a sequel for the first story, I toyed around with the idea of writing the first from Lily's POV. I actually wrote the first chapter in record time (probably only a day or two) and it's twice as long as James' POV. People actually requested that, too when I had votes up for sequel or no sequel. So, after this story is done, I'm going to rewrite the Completely Manly Journal from Lily's POV. I don't know the title yet, but we'll vote on that later.**

**-opungo**

* * *

**Monday, April 27  
Muggle Studies**

I was expecting it, but I'm still surprised that Lily isn't here for class. Well, obviously she isn't _here _but she wasn't at breakfast so I assume she's not in her class right now. I guess I'll check if she's in the tower during our free period.

* * *

**Later  
****Transfiguration**

She wasn't waiting in my dormitory or sitting around the common room, either. This is the one downside to forcing Lily out of my dormitory yesterday. I'm completely unaware of anything that's going on with her right now. It's frustrating and worrisome at the same time.

I said a while ago that I wouldn't mind grey hair as long as it was with Lily…I didn't mean _this _early!

Well since she's obviously not coming out of her dormitory soon there has to be something I can do with my time tonight. No Quidditch practice, no patrols, nothing. I don't feel like doing anything stupid with Sirius, Remus, or Peter, either. So what _is _there? What would Lily have me do?

Oh no. I shouldn't have asked myself that question because I _know _what Lily would make me do. No. I don't want to. I don't want to. _I-don't-wan't-_

Forget it! I'm going to the library to study tonight.

Why did I have to fall for such an intelligent, responsible, hard-working girl?

Wait, I can answer that: because she's an intelligent, responsible, hard-working girl. She's bloody gorgeous, too but she's brainwashed me into going to study for my NEWTs. As long as I have her as my girlfriend, I suppose it's worth it.

* * *

**Later  
****Charms**

Sirius will not shut up about me going to the library to study tonight. At all! He needs to; I'm just getting annoyed with it. Excuse me for trying to be responsible. Yes, isn't responsibility one of the things that got Lily to see I had changed this year and agree to be my girlfriend causing me to be _happy_? Ecstatic, even? Not to mention our snogging sessions, but that's not the point!

If I want to study, that's _my _business. I'm going to pass these NEWTs, damn it!

I've already decided I'll study for Charms tonight just to prove that I will be able to get through the exams without having Lily repeat the instructions a hundred times. She won't even be able to do that during NEWTs anyway since her last name and mine are on two separate halves of the alphabet. She'll be done with the spell portion of her exam long after I start testing for it. Since they won't let her whisper the answers in my ear (where is the justice in _that?!_) I have to learn to make do without her. Well, that just sounded depressing.

I-you know, what? I'm just going to quit writing in here for now until I've properly disposed of my former best mate.

* * *

**Later  
****Defense Against the Dark Arts**

The Silencing Charm is my new best mate. It does bloody wonderful things for you: like shutting up your former best mates. My other two mates are _Expelliarmus _and the Summoning Charm. They do great things like dislodging your former mate's wand from his hand and bringing it to rest in your rucksack.

I thought Sirius' reflexes would be better, considering he's a Beater and such. Getting his wand from him was easy…too easy in fact…

Maybe I should give his wand back…while I still have hair.

* * *

**Later  
****Library**

So the library has simultaneously become a place to hide from Sirius and a place intent on torturing me. All the books about the Charms I _want_ to study that Lily has shown me before during our tutoring sessions aren't here and the ones I have been able to find are worthless and don't even encroach the subject.

One of these days, I'm going to build a library that stocks books that are actually useful to the reader. Lily would love that kind of library, I'm sure. I wonder how many times I'd have to hit my head on this table before I eventually break it.

* * *

**Tuesday, April 28  
****Muggle Studies**

Well, last night my rescue came to me. It wasn't in the form of the library spontaneously combusting and being engulfed by the flames, as I had hoped. Nor did Lily sense that I was in trouble and put on a brave face to come help me.

The books I had been wanting came back and someone delivered them personally to me. Though they really hadn't done that intentionally.

I hands knotted in my hair in frustration, head bent over one of the useless books, when someone slammed some books down across from me and pulled out the chair. I looked up to see who it was, but paused when I saw the books.

"Hey James," the person said. "Studying?"

"You stole the books I needed!" I accused quietly, pointing at them.

"I was just looking ahead. The stuff we study now is so boring."

I sighed. "I just don't understand why they haven't let you skip a year. You could be a seventh year if you really wanted to, Annie."

Annie grinned. "Well I'd make all of you seventh years look bad if I was in your year with you. So just imagine how bad I make all of _my _classmates look." She flipped her long hair behind her shoulder and pushed the books towards me, smiling.

"These are probably better than the dragon dung you're looking at now," she offered. I nodded.

"They are. These are some books Lily showed me before and I really wanted to look at them." I shoved my useless book aside and flipped open to the chapter I wanted in _Fitzwilliam's Guide to Advanced Charms and the Theory Behind Them._

"It's nice to hang out with you in the library again," Annie said while my hand flew across my parchment. "I usually spend my own time studying, or talking with friends, or with Michael. My friends are busy and Michael is spending time with his own friends and I was coming down here to study some more, but then I spotted you."

I nodded. "How is that boyfriend of yours?" I asked, more out of politeness than anything.

Annie sighed, almost dreamily, and for a moment I regretted asking her. If she was going to gush, I was out of here. Instead, she gave a reasonable and non-girly answer. "Well, I look at you and Lily and how happy you two look and I realize that Michael and I are basically the Ravenclaw version of you two."

I stopped writing for a second and raised an eyebrow. "I realize you're completely in love with him, but that doesn't make comparing me to him a compliment or anything." Annie laughed while I flipped a page and resumed writing again.

"What about you? Aren't you completely in love with Lily? Don't lie and say you aren't because you have to be with how long you were chasing her before she finally lost her mind. I mean you even proposed once, didn't you?"

I pointed my quill at Annie. "First of all, she didn't lose her mind: she came to her senses. Secondly: how the _hell _did you hear about that? That was in my bloody fourth year! I was still stupid back then!"

Annie giggled and from some distant corner of the library, I heard Madam Pince shush her. "Well, that night on patrol when you heard Lily's rant about Michael, but thought it was about you, we talked for a little while more and she mentioned that incident. Wait a minute, what do you mean you were stupid 'back then'? You're still stupid." I reached across the table and ruffled her hair. Annie quickly removed my hand from her hair and smoothed it out again.

"You jerk. You messed up my hair," Annie complained, but she was still smiling. I cocked my head to the side in confusion.

"Messed it up? I made it look _better._" Annie rolled her eyes at me.

I started taking notes again and got a good deal farther before Annie spoke again. She had taken out her own homework and was doing that.

"So, seriously, how are you and Lily?" she asked.

"Couldn't be happier," I replied truthfully.

"Is she sick today?"

"More or less. I suspect she'll be better soon enough."

I could tell Annie caught the implication in my "more or less" statement but she didn't say anything about it. Instead she went back to something she'd said earlier.

"So either you forgot my question from earlier or you're completely avoiding it," she observed.

"Or the reason I didn't answer it falls under a third option: it was just too stupid." Annie reached across the table to ruffle _my _hair up but I just sat there. "You do realize that doesn't have the same effect on me as it does on you, right?"

She actually looked a little disappointed by this, but she shrugged it off. "I asked you whether or not _you _were completely and madly in love with your girl Lily."

I snorted. "Of course! How could I not be?"

Annie nodded. "Have you told her that?"

"No! That's relationship suicide! You girls all ramble on about the rights and wrongs of relationships but you don't know _that _basic rule?"

Annie looked incredulous. "You've never told her that you love her? _That's _relationship suicide. Look, Lily is the kind of girl who does want to be told that. So if you love her, why not just _tell _her?"

I sighed. "First of all, because it's stupid. Secondly, I don't tell other people that I_ love_ them. I tell them that I love Quidditch, food, and music in that order. Third of all, just imagine how weird that situation could be. She'd either punch me, laugh, or stare blankly at me."

"Or she'd say it _back_," Annie interrupted.

"And as a final point, when exactly do you _say _it? You could either mess everything up or make everything perfect. _That _is why it's relationship suicide."

Annie thought about this for a while before speaking again. "Well, you have two options. Tell her on a romantic date or just slip it into every day conversation so she doesn't have time to stare. Just a quick 'Well, I'm off, darling. I'll see you later, I love you, cheers!'"

I shook my head at her. "I don't know why I bother to talk to you," I remarked.

"Because I brighten up everybody's day," she replied cheekily. "This is sure to damper your spirits, though. Look who's coming over to tell us the library is closing for the evening." She nodded at Madam Pince who was stalking over to us to kick us out of the library. We both rolled our eyes and started packing up our things while Madam Pince was breathing down our necks, annoyed by our presence. She followed us all the way to the library doors where she slammed them shut behind us.

"Horrible old bird," Annie grumbled, shaking her head. "I'll see you later, James. Remember what I said."

"Don't worry, I won't." Annie snorted and we both walked off to our respective towers.

"Hey, Prongs!" Sirius called when I walked into the dormitory. "I didn't know girls came by owl post."

I was about to retort and tell him that if anybody was a girl around here, it was him for spending so much time on his hair, but then I looked at my bed. Lily was sitting cross-legged there in the makeshift pajamas I had given her the other night, her long hair damp. She grinned at me.

"James!" she exclaimed. She ran across the room and threw her arms around my neck.

"Hey," I replied, a little surprised. I dropped my rucksack and wrapped my arms around her waist. "Is there any reason in particular you're wearing some of my old clothes?"

Lily looked up at me and rolled her eyes. "Your wonderful mates here were playing with some Zonko's product and I didn't knock before I came in so I got splattered in some type of goo. I'm waiting for my clothes to come out of that cleaning solution over there that Remus made up for me. I've been playing cards with Sirius since then."

"Oh, yeah?" I said, glaring at Sirius. He had been attempting to look at her cards. Over by Remus' bed, there was a large bucket with purple smoke curling over the top. "How long have you been here, anyway?"

"Only about an hour or two. Come on, you can help me win against Sirius. I haven't been doing too well." She wasn't exaggerating either. She's terrible at cards. I took over her hand for her while she rested her head in my lap and I beat Sirius easily several rounds in a row.

"I want another rematch. Your girl Lily there is terrible at cards and I was still in my 'playing-against-a-rubbish-card-player-mode'. She made me forget that you're better than she is." Sirius was always a sore loser.

"No," I replied, bored. Sirius sighed.

"It's probably for the best, anyway," he remarked, gathering up the cards and sliding off of my four-poster. "She fell asleep." Sirius nodded at Lily who was, indeed, asleep in my lap. Gently I slid her head off of it and slid off the bed myself.

"Should we leave you two alone?" Peter asked from his bed, wiggling his eyebrows. I lobbed a shoe at him.

"Shut up, Wormtail," I grumbled, taking my school shirt off and exchanging it for a t-shirt. I reached over for my pajama pants which I had left by the bathroom door…

"You got that goop on my pants, didn't you?" I questioned. Remus pointed to the bucket by his bed. I groaned and slipped off my trousers. I'd be sleeping in my boxer shorts tonight.

"So was she sick today?" Sirius asked with a yawn as he changed out of his clothes. I shrugged, feigning indifference. It really just wasn't my place to say.

"I suppose," I yawned. Then I drew the curtains closed on my four-poster and edged Lily under the covers with me. I felt like I had just closed my eyes before I was gently being prodded awake. I grunted and rolled away from the annoyance, burying my face in a pillow. Then, out of the quiet of the dormitory, I heard a distinctly feminine giggle. That's when the previous night hit me like a ton of bricks and I remembered just _who _was in my bed with me. My eyes wrenched open and I turned back over to see the slightly blurry form of Lily, sitting up in my bed, grinning at me.

"Morning!" she greeted cheerily. _Too _cheerily. It was _morning_ for Merlin's sake. I groaned and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close to me.

"Morning," I grunted. "Go to sleep again."

"What about class?" Lily asked softly. She started running a hand through my hair. My already muddled mind became even more hazy.

"Bollocks to class," I countered, closing my eyes again.

I heard Lily sigh. "Fine. If you want, you and I can sleep through a class or two, would that make you happy?"

She rested her head on my chest, just under my chin and tangled her feet with mine. One hand rested on my chest beside her head and the other one gripped my shoulder. How the hell could a bloke _not_ be happy with that sort of offer?

"Fine. Where's everybody else?"

"Breakfast," Lily murmured.

I grunted again. Then a thought occurred to me. I cracked an eye open and looked down at the girl who looked content in my arms. _Too _content.

"Lily," I said slowly, clearer than before.

"Yeah?" she asked drowsily.

"Why did you come here last night?" I was impatient for an answer so I waited for hardly a second before I jumped into accusations. "I told you that you can't use me as an excuse to hide out from the world. As much as I enjoy having a girl in my bed, the circumstances make it a little hard for me to be _too _happy about it-"

"Oh, hush you annoying prat. I'm not hiding out here. I'm perfectly fine compared to the absolute _wreck _I was before." Lily was fully awake now and more than slightly annoyed. It took her only moments to notice the alarm in my expression at her sudden mood swing because she sighed and relaxed again. "I'm fine. I promise. It was actually a good idea to sit in my dormitory and think for a while about all of it. Now that I have had time, I'm not too upset anymore. I mean, she's not gone _yet_. I'll still have time to say…bye." She kept getting quieter towards the end of her sentence to the point where I couldn't even hear her anymore. Before I could if she was okay, she kissed me quickly on the lips before letting her head drop back on the pillow.

"I'll be fine," she promised me, closing her eyes. "Go back to sleep."

I didn't have to wait too long for her to fall back asleep again. She mumbles a little bit in her sleep. I found this out last night and the other night when she also slept here. I pulled her close to me.

"Fire…in…floo…" she mumbled. Isn't she so observant?

My eyelids were growing heavy. Maybe I did need more sleep, but I also needed to head to class, no matter how much I wanted to sleep in that day. Then, as luck would have it, Annie's words started circling around my head: _So if you love her, why not just _tell_ her? _

For some reason, I decided to take Annie's advice. I am seriously lacking in this "Gryffindor courage" I'm supposed to posses because I only said it because Lily was asleep and wouldn't hear me, anyway. At least I could say that I said it to her. Does the fact that she was unconscious really matter?

I kissed her forehead lightly. "I love you, Lily," I murmured quietly.

"Zzzzhhjay shyat, hm?" was the only response I really got from her. She said the same thing the first night she stayed here. I asked her about it the next morning and she said she was dreaming her Aunt May had come to visit. Which is just a little impractical, considering she's been in a mental institution since six out of nine of her beloved cats died and she was so overcome with grief, she was convinced she herself was a witch who had accidentally brought death upon her pets. Obviously not, but the neighbors and some family members had her taken away.

I quickly showered and changed and folded up Lily's now-clean clothes from the previous night and placed them on the bed, along with a note saying I'd be back later with some food. Then I headed off for a _very _quick breakfast. I had to sneak in here, but I was in luck. Sirius spotted me and he quickly threw a few dozen acid pops on the Professors desk, burning a surprising amount of holes in it. Meanwhile, I slipped into my desk and insisted, when Burbage turned back around and noticed me there, that I've been here the whole time. Through the power of absolute lying, she believed me.

* * *

**Later  
****Transfiguration**

**Enjoy your jolly romp between the sheets?**

You mean did I enjoy that lovely bird known as sleep? Yes, I enjoyed it _very _much. Very relaxing. Now, shut up before I hex you.

_Sirius, I'd listen to him. I think he means it. Don't push it._

**No he doesn't.**

I speak from experience: he gave me a similar warning back in second year. When I told another joke that started with "So a goblin and a house elf walked into a pub", I was pushed down two flights of stairs and spent a night in the hospital wing.

**My, my. You **_**do**_** have a bit of a temper, don't you?**

_I stand by what I said earlier: don't push it. Subject change: we need to start working out study schedules for the NEWTs._

**What? NEWT study schedules?! James! What have you done?!**

Me? How did I get dragged into this? In fact, how did you manage to drag me into the center of _two _conversations under a fifteen minute span?

**To answer your questions: yes, you. You got dragged into the center of this conversation because you decided to go off and study yesterday so that's probably where Remus got the idea. It's a gift.**

_You're first, Sirius. I'll make yours out right away._

**But I already **_**know**_** all the rubbish they want us to spit back!**

I need more time to study than him. Can't I have mine made out first?

_Alright then, Sirius. If you know it, then tell me: what are the main properties of the Amphibious Cough Elixir?_

…**Frogs?**

That was back from third year! If Moony knows it and you don't you're in trouble.

I even knew it.

Scratch my last statement: you're going to fail with a big fat T.

**Fine. Bring on the bloody study schedule. I will disregard it completely until the week before.**

_Then what's the point? I am trying to help you graduate, you know._

I don't think he really knew until now. But now that he does know, I can guarantee he will say he doesn't care at all and then make some smart remark.

**Yeah, James is right. I don't really care. Plus, I have that large inheritance. I can live quite comfortably for the rest of my life if I so choose. What do I care about this "graduating" business?**

I think I just saw a vision of the future. In it, we we're all waving our diplomas in Sirius' face and laughing at him. Then we go off to our warm homes while he curls up in his lovely box.

_That sounds about right._

**Hey! Just for that, I'm writing ALL of you out of my will!**

That's not much of a threat. All we'd be missing out on is your Chocolate Frog cards and socks.

**Lucky socks! And RARE cards…yeah, they're not really that special.**

_You can see the ego deflate before your very eyes!_

**Quiet, you.**

* * *

**Later  
****Charms**

Right when I was getting ready to go back up to the dormitory with some food, Lily finally made her appearance at the table. Took me by complete surprise, too. I was just staring at her for a long time in shock. The first thing I registered her saying was: "James, unless you snap out of it soon, I'm going to eat your food."

I grinned. "I'm sorry, but this is _my _food. However," I placed a plate in front of her that I had been loading with food, "you can eat your food instead." Lily looked from the plate to me and back to the plate again. Then she sighed.

"James, have you forgotten just how much I actually eat from day to day?" she questioned. Only then had I realized that I had accidentally dropped Sirius-sized portions on her plate. I don't think he even swallows his food at all.

"Oh, sorry," I apologized. Then I held the plate out to Sirius.

"Food!" he exclaimed and then proceeded to inhale that. I pushed my plate towards her.

"We can share, if you want," I offered. She grinned and scooped a small piece of meat into her mouth, chewing quickly. "It's good to have you back, Lily," I decided. Then I kissed her quickly.

* * *

**Later  
****Potions**

Potions is finally enjoyable again. Yes, not only is Lily here, but she isn't mad at me. That means my hands are free to roam again. Well, at least until she slaps it away; she's being terribly restrictive as far as where my hands are allowed to go. Right now, my arm is only allowed around her waist. But I can deal with that, I suppose.

* * *

**Later  
****Boy's Dormitory**

As Lily and I were walking out of Potions, she surprised me with a simple question.

"So, what are we doing for our date Saturday?" she asked innocently, smiling up at me.

I smiled back, but inside my head, I was in a panic. The whole time I was thinking: _Shit! I forgot about that entirely! Now I have to come up with something quick! Crap!_

Keeping calm, I grinned and said: "Now that would just spoil the surprise," I teased.

Oh, Sirius will get a kick out of this one. The surprise is that there is no surprise. There better be one soon, though. Sirius would think the situation funny, Lily…not so much.


	4. April 29: Dancin' In The Moonlight

**Author's Note: Here it is! The long-overdue chapter. This one is named after the song by King Harvest. There is no actual dancing, but it still seemed appropriate. Okay, so new game to make you guys happy. I will give you a quote from Lily's POV from the prequel and you can guess who said it. Whoever guesses correctly gets to act smug for being correct since I can't think of a better prize. Here is the quote.**

**"Lily? Shut up."  
****Now, it's either:  
A) Dorcas  
B) Marlene  
C)Peter  
D) Remus  
E) Sirius  
F) Severus**

**Also, people have been asking me a lot lately what my old fan fic _Deleted Scenes From Harry Potter _was since it was deleted before some of you could read it. Well, I decided to bring it back. Not through fan fic since it'd just get deleted again but through forum that way you can all contribute as was the case with the fic before. Check out my bio page to find the forum and make sure to read the rules and have fun with it. Now, on to the chapter!**

**Wednesday, April 29  
Muggle Studies**

**Ha ha!**

Shut up, Sirius! I told you my predicament so you could _help_ me, not laugh at me. Laughing is not helping.

**On the contrary, I'm encouraging you to see the silver lining, laugh at yourself, and to always look on the bright side of life.**

_No, Sirius. It sounds more like you're trying to write a song. Help him, you're his friend. _

You are too!

_Well you technically never asked me for help._

Same here!

Well it's assumed that you two will help me. Sirius takes some persuading, though.

**Ah, what the hell? I'll help you. I am, after all, the master of romance.**

Moony, I need your help now more than ever.

**Did you not hear what I said? Or see what I wrote in this case?**

He's talking crazy, Moony. I need help from you.

_I don't know, James. I don't like how you begged Sirius for help and then you're just going to drop him._

And you never asked Moony and I because you assumed we would. What if we were busy?

Busy doing what, Wormtail?

Fine. I'm not busy, I just don't want to help you this time around.

Are you serious?

_No, Padfoot is Sirius (and yes, I just wrote that) and I don't want to help you either._

**They're right, mate. It's time you learned to do these things on your own. Besides, you got yourself into this mess with promising Lily a date once a month on your "anniversary". You two make me sick.**

Sirius, when you finally get the girl of your dreams, you'll understand. Now, I have to think something up for Saturday on my own, no thanks to any of you!

_Your welcome._

* * *

**Later  
****Transfiguration**

Maybe if I transfigured a couple of stones into some _puppies._ No, Lily only likes cats. Damn it. If she was a dog person, that would make this so much easier.

* * *

**Later  
****Charms**

Billy, silly, frilly, chilly…damn it, nothing rhymes with Lily! So writing a poem for her is out. Plus that is just too sickening for me to even make a real attempt at. I'd rather spend an hour in Madam Pudifoots than succeed in writing a poem. I tried to get inspiration from some other poets-_Muggle _poets that Lily likes. But Shakespeare was too fruity (and I can hardly understand a _thing_ that man said), and Poe was just a little too depressing. I guess I should be a little less harsh on Poe since he lost his mother _and_ his wife to the same disease, but he aired out his sorrows to the public more than F. Scott Fitzgerald. With Poe, _The Raven, Annabel Lee, _and _Deep In Earth_ are all about death. Death is a good subject for a funeral, just not a date.

Unless you _meet _someone at a funeral and get a date with them, but that's just kind of creepy.

* * *

**Later  
****Potions**

That's it. I have to go to the underworld for inspiration.

* * *

**Later  
****Boy's Dormitory**

Sirius walked in to the dormitory and stopped suddenly when he saw me, causing Remus to run into him and Peter to run into Remus and fall flat on his back…he's a little more unbalanced than the rest of us. Sirius pointed accusingly at me, mouth agape.

"Don't say anything!" I snapped before he could say anything. Sirius' jaw snapped closed and then he turned around, yanking-really more like throwing-Remus and Peter into the room and slamming the dormitory door shut.

"What is wrong with you?!" he bellowed. "Who are you and what have you done with James?!"

"I'm just trying to find ideas for a date for Lily," I insisted.

"Prongs," Wormtail said slowly, "Jane Austen books are for _girls_. Girls who want to get _married._ Not for guys to get ideas for dates. They didn't even go out on dates back in 1813! You do _not _get ideas for a date from _Pride and Prejudice!_"

Now, you see, my friends criticize me for my efforts. However, I would like to point out that I got twice as far in that book as I did before and all for love…yeah, I'm pathetic when it comes to Lily, I'll admit it.

"Look all of you just shut up, I'm desperate right now and I'm trying to concentrate." I gestured to the book. They all shook their heads and went off to do their own activities: Remus went to study-he's leaving again in a few days-, Sirius was flipping through a Quidditch magazine, and Peter was trying to learn some Muggle thing called origami. After a few minutes, something began to bother me. I looked at the front of the book, then turned back to Peter.

"Wormtail," I began cautiously. "How did you know _Pride and Prejudice _was published in 1813?" Sirius and Remus whipped their heads around toward him. Wormtail turned red and began to stammer, not really getting a coherent sentence out.

"_You traitor!" _Sirius bellowed, pointing an accusing finger at him. Wormtail emitted a squeak and, with very surprising speed, bolted off his bed and had his hand on the door knob before Sirius could even toss his magazine aside. "Get back here!" Sirius barked, taking off after him.

"Chasing me is futile! I'll just cause an accident and make it look like you did it!" Peter warned. The door slammed shut behind them and all was silent in our dormitory.

"You gonna go stop them?" Remus asked.

I considered it for a moment. "No. They can work it out for themselves. They're mature enough."

Remus nodded. "They have grown up quite a bit since first year, haven't they?"

"Yeah," I agreed. "The last time Sirius put a dungbomb under someone's desk was a month ago."

* * *

**Thursday, April 30  
****Muggle Studies**

Ha! I found the answer! In the _Daily Prophet_, no less! I was skimming through it, something caught my eye, I read it and I know what I'm doing with Lily on our date.

"Perfect!" I exclaimed. "Here, Sirius, you can stop glaring at me now and do your crossword." Sirius' mood instantly improved the moment that newspaper in his hands. My mood improved tenfold when Lily sat down next to me at that particular moment.

"Our date has been moved up to tonight. No need to dress in anything fancy." I smiled, Lily's eyes narrowed.

"You are _not _going to get me on a broom again," she insisted stubbornly. "I told you: I'm naturally awful at it."

"And I told _you_, that you can't expect to be great at it right away. I was awful when I first started to learn."

"That's because you were five and you didn't listen when your Mum said that you weren't ready for a 'big boy broom', yet," Sirius pointed out. "OW!" he yelped. I had kicked him in the shin under the table.

"I told you _before! _It was Easter and I found where Mum had been stashing all my candy and that was the day I learned that two bags Sherbet Balls, eighteen Jelly Slugs, and eleven Chocolate Frogs should never be combined." I hung my head, feeling a little ashamed. I can still remember that sugar-crazed, terrifying day.

I was brought back to the present by a sharp pain in my shin.

"GAH!" I choked out. "Sirius! You-_bastard!_"

Sirius shrugged. "You kicked me first."

"Well you deserved it!"

"So did you!"

"Two wrongs don't make a right."

"So you admit that you were wrong?"

"_Never!"_

"_Silencio!"_ Lily muttered in exasperation. Sirius and I tried to hurl more accusations at each other, but it was in vain. We just gave up. "When you two can play _nicely_," Lily emphasized, "I will take away the spell. Until you can get along, eat your breakfast. Ah! _Sirius what have I told you about playing with your food?"_ Sirius had been preparing to launch some eggs on a spoon at the Hufflepuff table. He dumped the eggs back on his plate and took a bite out of an apple instead. Remus and Peter showed up then.

"Sorry we're late," Remus grunted when he sat down. "I was helping Peter come up with a concluding paragraph on an essay. What'd I miss?"

Lily shrugged. "Nothing, really. We were just having a nice, quiet breakfast."

"Silencing Charm, again?" Peter asked.

Sirius and I nodded.

Lily can actually handle situations like Sirius and I arguing with each other really well. It's another quality I really like her. She'll be a great mother one day.

Er-I mean, she should be a Healer in St. Mungo's or…something like that. Why did I even think that?

* * *

**Later  
****Transfiguration**

Sirius finally completed the crossword and we were able to read over some of the articles about how stupid the Ministry is being. Well, they didn't say that outright, but we pretty much surmised that.

"Why can't they just do their damn job?" Peter complained as we made our way downstairs.

"Because they employ idiots at the Ministry," Remus pointed out. "For some reason, for thousands of years, everybody thinks that we need incompetent people to run a government just to make people with low self-esteem feel they have some sort of importance in their lives."

"Well that's sure to bring down their self-esteem another couple of notches-"

"Hey!" Sirius barked. He had stopped at a painting. "Quit following us! Don't you have something better to do? Go find the painting with all the drunks, or something." The figures in the painting dashed off to another painting. What is it with paintings following us around? Well, they do live in a frame and on a canvas, it's not like they have anything better to do.

* * *

**Later  
****Charms**

_James, when are we meeting up tonight?_-L.E.

I was thinking about an half hour after dinner.-J.P.

_Can't you give me some sort of hint about what I should wear._

Hm…a jacket or a sweater may not hurt.

_So we _are _going outside._

Yes, but we won't go near the Quidditch pitch, okay?

_Sounds good._

**So are you taking her to see Hagrid? **_**Real**_**, romantic.-S.B.**

No, I'm not taking her to see Hagrid. His cooking would kill her. I'm surprised it hasn't killed us yet.

**Personally, I think it's an extremely slow-acting poison that will kick in full force on the day we graduate. But, with our bloody amazing potions skills, we'll be able to whip up a quick antidote and a matter of seconds, thus restoring us to perfect health and making us international wizard celebrities.**

You've been reading too many fantasy novels.

**And **_**you've **_**been reading too many girly novels. At least now that you have an idea for a date with Lily, you can quit reading that book.**

Um…yeah, sure I can.

**Oh, no!**

Look, Sirius, I'm at the part where Elizabeth goes off to visit her friend Charlotte and they see Darcy again at Lady Catherine's home and it's obvious he's in love with her and it's a horribly awkward situation and you _know _how much you and me like to laugh at awkward situations, so shut up.

**What has she done to you?!**

I repeat: shut up.

* * *

**Later  
****Defense Against the Dark Arts**

First draft of a practice NEWT essay:

_The Dark Ages of the Muggles was an equally dark period for witches and wizards alike. It was in this time where the notorious and powerful warlock Temple Eesti. Grief-stricken over the loss of his Muggle wife to the Black Death in 1349, Eesti tried to reanimate her and bring her back to life. He semi-succeeded and created the Inferi. When he realized that he hadn't actually brought his wife back, he went to reverse it, but his wife had disappeared to the nearby Muggle village and had managed to accidentally kill several innocent people. A mob of Muggles set her on fire and she was destroyed. Eesti forgot all about the mistake he made and blamed the Muggles for keeping his wife from him forever-_I'd like to spend forever with Lily, even though I know it's not physically possible and there's no way I can resort to that creepy motive. Oh, yeah, the essay-_and he went on a rampage, raising Muggles from the graves and turning them into Inferi and killing Muggles and adding them to his numbers. He had made enough for a small army before a band of wizards and witches came and destroyed not only the army but Eesti himself. Fire and light still remains the best defense against the Inferi._

Well except for the part where I got really off topic, I think that was an EXCELLENT essay. I'd give myself an O for that…then again, I am biased. Let's face it, my essay was terrible. There, I said it.

* * *

**Later  
****Potions**

I think I know what's wrong with me! See, my theory is that when I said I was in love with Lily before I was only _mostly _in love, but now that I've been with her for a while I've all the sudden, without warning, fallen _completely _in love. Whereas before we were going out I would stare at her to annoy her, I can't help but do it now, so my theory _must_ be the reason why. It's either that or her "don't –touch-you-can-make-_yourself-_happy-on-your-own-time" policy is starting to get to me. If she'd just let me touch _something­_-forget it, I'm over it.

* * *

**Later  
****Boy's Dormitory**

Have Cloak, have Map, and will have Girl once I go retrieve her from the Common Room.

* * *

**Later  
****Boy's Dormitory**

I put on the cloak before I left the dormitory, and fled down the stairs. Lily was waiting for me near the bottom of them. I tapped her shoulder and she whipped around, but saw nobody.

"James?" she hissed. "If that's you that is _so_ not funny."

"Yes, it is," I whispered back. "Now come up here until nobody in the common room can see you."

She brushed past me. I made sure nobody was coming up or down the stairwell before I covered her too.

"Nice to see you," she whispered sarcastically. But she gave me a quick kiss so I knew it was fine. We snuck out of the common room, through the halls, and out the secret passage to the grounds.

I counted to a hundred while we walked away from the castle and then stopped. "Here's good," I decided. I lowered the two of us to the ground, making sure the cloak still covered us even when we were laying down.

"What are we doing out here?" Lily whispered into the still night. I checked my watch.

"Two more minutes," I muttered to myself. "Just keep looking up," I told Lily. She eyed me curiously but I kept my eyes up. She gave up and did the same. A few minutes later, she gasped.

"Was that-did I just see-oh, look! There's another one!" she gasped excitedly. I grinned. Taking her out to see the meteor shower had been a great idea. I had seen the notice in the Astrology section of the _Prophet_ and I thought it'd be a nice idea since I had never seen one personally myself. Plus, I was desperate.

We watched the show for quite a while without saying anything. I was worried Lily might've fallen asleep, but that was when she said, "I do _not_ want a date next month. You'd have to perform a miracle to top _this_."

I shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, I am really amazing so I may just be able to do that." Lily elbowed me playfully in the ribs.

"You are good at planning these dates, I'll admit, and guessing what you might do helped take my mind off of my Mom. But honestly, James, you're just spoiling me. I'm going to become one of those horrible bratty and demanding girlfriends."

"No you won't, because if you start becoming that, I'll tell you, you'll hit me, and then you'll feel bad about it and the whole spoiling process will be reversed. I've got it all planned, don't worry."

Lily sighed. "It's _you_. I have to worry. You give me no choice." I didn't know whether to be happy or worried about that, so I didn't say anything. "Tell me something I don't know about you," Lily demanded suddenly a few minutes later.

"When I was two, I got a toy hippogriff. Kind of like a teddy bear, but it would've scared Muggle children into therapy. Anyway, I loved that thing and I _always _slept with it and I didn't go by a night without it. I kept telling myself that once I got to Hogwarts, I had to leave him at home-his name was Hippo, by the way. I know, clever-but when September rolled around and it was time to go to the station, I stashed him in my trunk at the last minute. I managed to hide him from my mates for a year. Sirius caught me trying to stash him back in my trunk one morning and told me that I would either stop sleeping with Hippo or he'd drop him from the dormitory window, stop on him, drag him through the mud, rip up off his limbs, then light him on fire. Needless to say, I haven't slept with Hippo since and he is sitting quietly and peacefully at home with Mum." I sighed and closed my eyes. "Your turn."

"I didn't fall back asleep Tuesday morning and I heard what you said," Lily replied nonchalantly. I froze up and I swear my heart stopped for a second before picking back up at twice the speed it was going before. Oh, shit. I _had _committed relationship suicide. I braced myself for the inevitable final blow to our relationship.

"I love you too, you big coward. Waiting until you think a girl is asleep," she muttered under her breath. "You could have at least have the decency to say it to me when my eyes were open and I had a chance to make myself look presentable. Now I'll always remember that moment with me looking like the usual morning train wreck and _attempting_ to say something back to you but it all just came out as a garbled mess and-mmmmph!" I have found that, when Lily goes into an annoyingly long rant, it is sometimes best to kiss her. This was one of those times. We broke apart after a minute or two and went back to watching the show in the sky.

"You looked great that morning, you always do," I mentioned to her. She snuggled closer to me. All in all, it was a great night, but I'm horribly exhausted now and I must turn in before I pass out over this journal and my mates discover it. I was able to save Hippo, and I want to be able to save this journal, too.

* * *

**Friday, May 1  
****Unspeakably early in the Boy's Dormitory**

I had a dream. It was a really good dream, but it was one of those ones where you _swear_ they're real. I was actually stretched out in my four-poster for a little while, grinning like an absolute loon with pure euphoria when I realized that the dream wasn't real. Instead of being relieved (the dream _had _been slightly ridiculous) I was surprised to find that I was sincerely…disappointed and I don't know why. It's all very confusing and if I do manage to get back to sleep, it'll be a miracle.

* * *

**Later  
****Boy's Dormitory**

Managed to get back to sleep, but I'm still confused over meaning of dream. Maybe breakfast will help clear things up.

* * *

**Later  
****Muggle Studies**

Breakfast was no help at _all._ I think it just made me even more confused and more than a little twitchy, too. I tried to be calm and eat my breakfast, but I kept on thinking about my dream and somebody would say my name and I'd jump back to reality, startled. Maybe I shouldn't have had so much coffee this morning.

* * *

**Later  
****Muggle Studies, still **

**James! Why are you so twitchy today?**

I am not twitchy!

_Yes, you are. Did your date go bad last night?_

No, it went off better than expected, actually.

What'd you do?

There was a meteor shower, we went off to see that. She loved it.

_Then why are you so twitchy?_

I am not twitchy…fine, maybe I am just a little bit. I just had a rather odd dream last night and I thought it was real for a little while before I realized that it wasn't.

_That's perfect!_

**Why is it perfect? Do we finally have proof he's insane?**

We've had proof of that since first year.

Hey!

_No. It's perfect because I need to interpret that type of dream for Divination!_

Oh, boy.

* * *

**Later  
****Transfiguration**

During our free period, I had to stretch out on the couch in the common room and relay my dream to Remus. Only, I changed it around a little bit and made it seem like a couple of complete strangers were the center of the dream. My friends looked at me like I was a complete loon and Remus gave me a interpretation of the dream but I don't think his interpretation was correct since I lied about it to him. I guess I'll have to figure it out for myself.

* * *

**Later  
****Charms**

I am extremely late to this class. Firstly, there was a fight between two fifth year boys over some girl (and she was looking rather smug about it, too. They should both dump her and become best mates.) With the help of Lily and Annie, we broke up the fight. The two blundering idiots had thrown aside their wands and were throwing punches at each other instead of hurling hexes. We managed to break them apart and they had bloodied each other up pretty good. Right when I was taking away points, Annie rushed to the bathroom, hand covering her mouth. Other professors came by when they heard the racket and took the two boys away to the Hospital Wing, scolding them for their gorilla-like behavior. Annie came out then.

"Want us to walk you up to the Hospital Wing?" I offered. Lily gave me a look to indicate that she'd rather _not _do that for Annie.

"Oh, no, it's fine," Annie said, brushing off the matter like it was nothing. "After it came up, I felt just fine. I'll just go wash up in my dormitory and explain everything to McGonagall." She walked cautiously away down the corridor. I went to Lily and put my arm around her waist and kissed her on the head. Her mood improved instantly.

* * *

**Later  
****Defense Against the Dark Arts**

I revised my practice essay and turned it in. The professor decided to talk to us about the topic and read us a copy of a letter Temple Eesti had written to his beloved wife in the days of their engagement to illustrate for us just how deep his attraction for his wife ran and what drove him to such extreme measures after her death. It was in the middle of his reading that the meaning of my dream hit me like a ton of bricks. I almost wanted to laugh right there for some reason. But now I know what I need to do. First: run into Hogsmeade real quick after Potions. Secondly: write to Mum. That way I know if I'm about to do something really stupid, but I don't think I am. Now, the only thing I have left to do is to keep this a complete secret.

* * *

**Later  
****Boy's Dormitory**

I feel like a criminal. I snuck into Hogsmeade, I sent a quick note to Mum, and I'm hiding something from my friends. They shouldn't be able to see what it is. They know how to reverse the spell I have on it, but as long as they don't know there's a spell, then I should have no trouble.

* * *

**Later  
****Boy's Dormitory, still**

My mates all came up together while I was flipping through a copy of a Quidditch magazine.

"Hey, Prongs," Sirius grunted as he kicked off his shoes. "Where were you after Potions? Lily said you told her you had to go take care of something?"

I shrugged, trying to stay calm. "Oh, I just had to go into Hogsmeade for a minute and write to Mum. Not a big deal, really." I hope my voice didn't crack or anything. Moony and Wormtail ignored me and accepted my half-truth. Sirius had his eye on the magazine in my hands.

"Is that the latest issue?" he asked curiously. I nodded.

"You want a look? I was going to finish up something for Muggle Studies anyway." I was nervous about offering him the magazine, but I had to act like nothing was out of the ordinary. He took the magazine and I fished around for my book. I froze when I saw Sirius take out his wand. I yelled "NO!" right when he was muttering the counter spell. He gaped at the page in front of him.

"I knew it! I knew you were hiding something from me!" Sirius yelled. Remus and Peter were curious now. I leaped over to his four-poster and tried to take the magazine from him, but he tossed it to Remus.

"Whoa!" he bellowed. His eyes bulged at the page and he tossed the magazine to Peter. Peter turned ghostly white. I managed to get the magazine from him and I put it back in my trunk.

"Are you _serious?!_" Sirius barked. "When?! How?! Why?!"

"I just decided today!" I told him. "Nobody else knows except you three and I expect you to keep it a secret." I looked pointedly at them.

"James," Remus said cautiously. "Shouldn't you sit on this for a few days before making this decision? It is pretty life-changing."

I sighed. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life."

Sirius eyed me. "Is this that whole 'love' thing again? James, you don't get married when you're in love! It's only when you get the girl pregnant and there's no other way out!"

Yes, that's the big decision I came to today: I plan to propose to Lily Evans. And if she says yes, I have already decided that Sirius should not make a speech at our wedding.

* * *

**Another Author's Note: Isn't it exciting? Who could guess this was coming with the sequel?**

* * *


End file.
